Latino farmers meet with new Washington governor

OLYMPIA, Washington — On Thursday January 24, 2013, a delegation of 15 Latino farmers from the Yakima Valley were the first formal group to be received by the newly elected Governor Jay Inslee and his staff in Olympia.

“We felt it was important to go to Olympia to show the new governor, that we too have issues and concerns as small farmers,” said Sergio Marquez one of the farmers attending the all day trip to Olympia.

Before the afternoon meeting, the governor had just announced his first piece of legislation, HB 1414 that directs the Department of Ecology to implement the ambitious basin water resource management plan. He asked the farmers how they felt about it. Evaristo Silva who has been farming in the Tieton area for the last 20 years said, “Without water we cannot farm.” The farmers also spoke of the issues at hand for them: More support from Department of Agriculture on training needs for farm sustainability for small farmers such as food safety, more importance of quality of product rather than quantity to compete globally, need for support on comprehensive immigration reform to keep a qualified trained workforce, need for access of drivers’ licenses for farmworkers.

The visit was at the culmination of a 20-hour educational series on good agricultural practices (GAP) for food safety that the Ag industry is pushing all producers to be prepared for Global GAP audits in the near future. Cowiche Growers allowed the Center to utilize their “Guide to Farm Food Safety” in Spanish to conduct the educational trainings.

The visit to Olympia was an educational training to see how government works within the State.

The Center for Latino Farmers is nationally recognized for its work in educating limited English speaking farmworkers that want to become farm owners. WA State is #6 in the nation in regard to the growth of Latino farmers in the USA. Ms. Gutierrez said, “We have put the Latino farmers on the national map and we have definitely let them know that the growth is huge even beyond the Southern borders.”

For more information on the Center and the work that they do, please call 509-453-3157 or go to their website at www.centerforlatinofarmers.com